Friday, March 11, 2011

The new way to blog - give stuff away!

Every time I visit a homeschooling or stay-at-home-mom (SAHM) website, it seems there is a promotion of some sort going on. Young mommies, suddenly bereft of their previous income, are constantly searching for a way to earn money from home. Or maybe money isn't the real issue, but a lack of feeling like a "real" contributor to the family. So, they turn to the internet, homemade crafts, or other cottage industries to help the family out financially and to fulfill a personal need of their own.

Many enjoy blogging as a job, where they will analyze baby and children's products in exchange for keeping said products for themselves. What appears to be a HUGE new trend is for these companies to offer an additional product to the blogger to give away, following certain guidelines. They have totally tapped into what social networking advertising is all about! I entered several of these contests before I realized I don't really want to "like", "follow" and "friend" all these bloggers and their sponsors' Facebook and Twitter accounts. However, if this sounds like a good time to you, I can tell you to go to http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/ and wile away the hours of your day!

Of course, this new social networking sweepstakes idea isn't the only way to make money (or earn stuff) blogging. There are traditional online ads, easily lined up via Google and other large companies. You could also sell your own ads to local business, if you blog is of local interest. You could build up the following on your blog, then sell it - but I'm thinking that may not pay off for a long time.

While I enjoy writing in my blog as time allows, I really have no desire to monetize it in any of those ways. I just want my voice to be heard "out there" and to enjoy the process of writing a good piece now and then. That being said, I would be amiss to pass up the opportunity to share the home business in which I am currently working.

I have been a customer of a fabulous health and wellness company for several years, and this particular company promotes its products through "network marketing". This means I earn money each time I help someone else open their own account! I've been working it as I have time. I'm what you would call "Level 1" - telling people about it on occasion. However, I have recently enrolled a non-profit entity and this could make me very busy for a while so I am gearing up to be a Level 2 or maybe even 3 for a few weeks or months - whatever it takes to make this a successful fundraiser for them.

Have a great weekend!

No comments:

Post a Comment